This review is spoiler-free

Retired Starfleet Admiral Jean-Luc Picard is haunted by the past, but the unexpected arrival of a fugitive presents the opportunity for atonement.

There is something wonderfully reassuring about seeing Patrick Stewart back on screen as Jean-Luc Picard. While the Star Trek franchise has grown through the introduction of new film and TV series since we last saw the Next Generation crew in Star Trek: Nemesis, some iterations proving to be more popular than others, the return of Picard is a big deal. CBS All Access and Amazon Prime are fully aware of this, hence the big multimedia push of the show, multiple premieres and TV spots. But with expectations sky high, is it actually any good? Thankfully, yes.

As mentioned elsewhere, this is no Next Generation Season 8 – Stewart has been there and done that, and so have we. If you’re looking for that show, there’s 178 episodes and four movies to sate your appetite, but then you’d be missing out on this extension of the Picard myth, twenty years later. The show’s creators (Alex Kurtzman, Akiva Goldsman, Kirsten Beyer and Michael Chabon) love the series so much that they haven’t dropped in fan service twinkles, instead focusing on the narrative that serves as the show’s engine. Yes, there’s reference to characters and situations from before, but never in a cheap ‘look who it is!’ way.

The universe genuinely feels like it has moved on since the world of Nemesis, and tantalisingly there’s whole chunks that we’ve skipped and need to learn about. Without overly relying on flashback, we get to fill in the gaps and start pulling at the threads of the mystery. Wisely, the first episode only introduces us to a couple of the new regulars, significantly Isa Briones’ Dahj, who reaches out to Picard when her life is turned upside down.

There’s some nice rapport between Stewart and Briones and we immediately feel like we’ve been drawn in to the story, even though we’re just scratching the surface. There’s a lot of plot to take in – not too much, but you do need to follow it closely and accept that certain aspects will surely be clearer the deeper we go. There’s also a couple of lovely ‘wow’ moments just to remind you that this is a very different sort of Star Trek.

Verdict: A very welcome return of one of Star Trek’s most popular characters in a show that’s curated by people who really care. It’s going to be quite the journey as the layers of the mystery are pulled away, and I couldn’t be happier with the company that I’m sharing on the journey. 9/10

Nick Joy

If you’re a fan of a certain vintage you’ll recall all those tiresome gags about the original cast of the Star Trek movies “oldly going where no Zimmer frame has gone before”, despite most of them still only being middle-aged. So it’s sweet revenge to finally have a Trek that really is about an unashamedly old person. Picard here is 92, played of course by the sprightly 79-year old Sir Patrick Stewart. Refreshingly, in this episode at least, there’s no attempt to make Picard seem more youthful than his years. He’s fit but a little frail, and his tendency toward grumpiness no longer has to be reined in by protocol and decorum. This is an old man who’s seen and done so much, but who, like so many retirees in our time, currently seems to be living a fairly small life.

This changes rapidly as the fallout from an immigration crisis, and contact from a mysterious young woman, sees him beating a path to Starfleet. It’s here where the change in tone from previous iterations becomes so evident. The 1960s idealism of a pristine, morally unquestionable Starfleet, albeit with the occasional bad apple, is gone. In its place is an organisation, although still seemingly well intentioned, bound by policy, politics, red tape and public opinion. The real-world parallels are clear but, while certain sections of the press will no doubt roll their eyes, there’s no browbeating here, just drama looking at our world through the lens of science fiction. Frustratingly, Picard’s influence isn’t what it was, he’s just a civilian now.

This is an interesting aspect because quite rarely in on-screen Trek have we seen much depiction of life on Earth outside of Starfleet. Here we encounter a number of people going about their lives, with careers outside of the vaguely naval institution we’re familiar with. It’s notable that Picard has gone rural, taking up the life led by his now long-deceased brother, shorn of most of the SF trappings we might expect. The trailers hint at more of this to come regarding other returning characters. The idea seems to be that the old and the new sit together comfortably but that technology is a tool and not the focus of our attention (a real world lesson many of us have yet to learn of course).

It’s not all grapes and grumpiness though, there’s a smattering of action and a couple of big surprises and twists in this episode alone. I’ve no doubt there’s plenty more spectacle to come. Trek at its best though is about people and how they deal with each other and, as this is the opening episode, it’s quite rightly very much a character piece.

Verdict: A welcome reintroduction for a much-loved icon most of us probably assumed we’d never meet again. The Earl Grey may be decaff now, but he’s still boldly going. 8/10

Andy Smith

 

 

Star Trek: Picard is available now on Amazon Prime

Click here for our interview with Sir Patrick Stewart and Jeri Ryan